Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 18: The High Court today issued notice to Government on application praying against the delay and halting the annual Darbar Move.
The notice has been issued in an intervening application filed by advocate T A Lone mentioning therein that the Court has dealt with issue of impeding Darbar Move in view of COVID-19 pandemic after taking into consideration the submission of other counsel.
The Court has agreed to take a considered view on previous date of hearing on the issue after having firm information with regard to the implications of the Darbar Move in these times.
The move was to take place in the first week of May and the Government has deferred it upto June 15.
Advocate Lone disagreeing with the submission of other counsel for halting the Darbar Move in view of recent situation, submitted that it (Move) is a sensitive matter of J&K UT and is being done as per the aspirations of people of both the divisions of Kashmir and Jammu, which is a long drawn process going on from the time of Maharaja.
“Therefore it has attained the status of convention and precedent as such the interference of this court in this issue is unwarranted and legally unsustainable”, read the application.
“The decision of Move taking since more than a century is a pure policy decision of the Government having been taken in the larger interests of public with respect to providing accountable and accessible good governance to the general public and is giving a sense of non-discrimination and equality among the people of two regions”, the application read.
The application further stated that the people of Kashmir Division desperately need the presence of people at the helm of affairs of the UT like LG of UT and Advisors along with the Administrative Secretaries and other Government Officers in these time of epidemic for taking stock of situation in Kashmir division.
It is mentioned that Court on submission of counsel for halting the Darbar Move process in view of pandemic has made its mind to take ‘Judicial review of a policy decision’ either to cancel or suspend the Darbar Move as is evident from the previous directions of the court.
Court has already directed the Government to file a comprehensive report of last two Darbar Moves giving details of all the financial resources spent on and the various arrangements made on these two Darbar Moves coupled with number and positions of the officials and the arrangements made for them.
Advocate Lone submitted that for a simple direction was to be passed for suspending or postponing the offing Darbar Move for a certain period and such details were not necessary to be called from the government.
Government has already taken a policy decision on April 10 and ordered the Civil Secretariat at Jammu shall continue to remain functional and the move employees shall work on ‘as is where is’ basis. It is prayed that the observations made by the court about the Move either be revoked or modified and direct the authorities to review the decision regarding Darbar Move periodically after every 15 days and no direction be issued to Government for cancellation or suspension of the Move.
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